Well folks- we're gonna have to take a couple week break here in the Joker's tourney.  This Wednesday is my 15th wedding anniversary.  Time flies doesn't it??  The week after that is July 4th and I'm sure everyone will be busy, plus I'll be in Amarillo, TX visiting my family.  So everyone have a great two weeks and we'll be back at in two weeks on July 11th!

 

I wish everyone good luck at the tables and see you soon!

 

Gary

A small group of 12 people sat down tonight.  Jenn got off to an early start and dominated throughout.  Jones got on a short stack early and sitting to Jenn's right showed fearless poker as he folded like a cheap card table on most hands they were in together.  Jones had a niece on his lap most of the time wanting to listen to an audio book so this will be a short summary.  Here's your top 3:

 

Jennifear - 6445

I Luv Hotmoms- 9370

Mellow_Yellow - 1885

 

Jennifer caught runner runner club with A4 to knock out Mellow who had AJ.  Then just a few hands later Jenn raises with JJ and I luv reraises with 78c, Jenn goes all in and and I luv calls.  Although two clubs hit the board he couldn't hit the final one he needed and Jenn takes her third title. 

 

Jenn is just amazing.  It's hard to describe.  Well I have to go play Old Maid with the niece!

 

Until next week,

 

Gary

 

 

Yours truly tried to go back to back tonight and was joined by 14 others.  Good poker tonight.  Jennifear started off as her usual self taking the early chip lead.  Newcomer ucf_engineer was out early and Kate_Starbird followed shortly after.  Play continued for quite a while--then hand 76 happened.  gjones was dealt AA in the big blind.  This could be good.  Hurque in semi early position calls and milady in the small blind calls.  gjones bumps it up over 3x the blind.  Hurque called and Milady gives it up.  The flop is 47J. gjones checks like he has AK.  Hurque checks.  Qc on the turn.  This hits Hurque as Jones is slow playing and checks.  Hurque bets a nice 350.  gjones with only 865 chips left makes his move all in.  Hurque calls and shows Q10.  gjones is gonna take a big pot!!  Well that's what he thought anyway.  A 10 hits on the turn. Dadgummit!!! Your tourney directory does not win two in a row.   gjones niece was in town so he didn't follow the actually too closely after he went out- but he did peek in to watch Jennifear mow them down.  One notable hand had annieboom moving in with JJ and Jennifear made the easy call to knock out the beautiful and lovely looking Annieboom. 

 

Here's your top 3:

Jennifear

HurQueRock

I Luv Hotmoms

 

Jenn fairly quickly took out I luv with 1010.  I Luv hit the straight on the river, problem was that filled up Jenn's house.  That gave Jenn a small advantage over Hurque.  Jenn played aggressive poker at one point winning 7 in a row.  After that Hurque tried to get agressive when it backfired on him. He made a big raise with Q9.  Jenn woke up with 10 10 and reraised.  At this point it made sense for hurque to just move all in.  Jenn's 10's held up and it was all over.   Watching Jenn work her magic is just fantastic.  It's this combination of great poker and a little luck.  It really is amazing. 

 

Jenn is the second player to win two Joker room tourneys- just following Mellow_Yellow by two weeks. 

 

Way to go Jenn!!

 

 

 

 

 

If you're low on cash like the situation I was just facing, you need a sure fire way to build a little bankroll to get things going again.  $1 sngs are just the place to do that.  I've been on a nice run lately.  Over my last 36 $1 sngs, i've come in first 8 times and in the money 19 times.  For the $39.60 i've spent i've won $69.00 for a net profit of basically $30.  All though you don't win a lot in these games, you don't lose a lot either.  If you lose 3 or 4 in a row without placing you've loss less than $5.  However, that same thing happens in a $5 sng and you've just burned though $20.  Not only do you not lose a lot and win you some, you also gain a lot of knowledge on how players play and start figuring out online betting patterns.  Hopefully this then helps you start winning at the higher levels.  Let's look at some strategies now for these sngs. 

 

I think patience is the number one asset to have in these sngs.  Most people are inexperienced and others are thinking, well it's just a buck.  Well it's not quite a buck, it's actually a net gain of $3.90 if you win.  4 or 5 of those $3.90's can be a big difference on a small bankroll.  If it's early in the tourney and you hit top pair, you bet and someone reraises you all in, maybe you should think about folding.  In this size of sng it seems like to me that a reraise all in is almost always the nuts or high pair (see more in the C-betting section).    If you fold and wait for a better spot, I think (just my opinion) that you'll win more in the long run.  People playing these just love to go all in.  If you're patient and wait for you're spot, you can just sit there and pick people off.  You also get the benefit of watching others knock each other out.  I've been sitting right there on the bubble many times with almost no chips and contrary to the push all in with a decent hand method when you're low on chips, I'll just wait it out.  I can't give any real numbers, but I've backed into the money a bunch of times by doing this.  Playing solid straight up poker can win you money in these.  

 

When you have a lot of chips and the blinds are still low, I like to limp a lot.  Limping seems to be the name of the game in these.  When peope do raise, you can almost guaranty that they have JJ-AA or AK.   Now limping has an asterick by it.  I like to limp when others have limped.  The implied odds when you hit (knowing the fact that people love to move all in) are great.  The patience part plays in here.  You have to be careful with these type hands if you limp.  If you limp with K9 suited and hit a K, or J9 and hit a 9, or even 2nd pair, you probably don't have the best hand.  You can again almost guaranty that others here will have limped just caught two pair or have a higher kicker.  Even if you do have them beat and they bet, unless you have a good draw, it's probably best to fold and wait for a better spot.  The payoff comes in when you do flop a straight playing Q8, or Q10, or even have a flush draw.  If someone has hit top pair or has limped with QQ or JJ and they have the overpair, they will almost always go all in.  People just don't lay those down at this level and you can benefit from it.

 

If you've got a decent hand and everyone has folded to you -- raise it.  Then no matter what comes on the flop bet.  You really keep everyone off balance with this strategy.  They are so used to limping, they really don't know what to do when you raise 3x with a good hand and then bet.  They want to limp in and when they can't, they get frustrated.  If they end up calling with a mediocre hand and don't hit, they will fold to you bet.  If they did catch something they will probably re-raise.  If they re-raise all in, you pretty much know you are beat and you can fold (unless of course you flopped a great hand).  In this case, I really haven't seen people bluff much.  When I do think they might be and I call, they seem to always show trips and I'm beat.  It just seems like playing with patience here, you'll make more if you just go ahead and give that one up.  Always betting after raising pre flop accomplishes several things.  If you don't hit and they don't, they will fold and you will win the hand.  If you hit and they hit a little less, since you bet when you had nothing, they don't know what hand to put you on.  They might just call with the lesser hand and you can win a nice pot. 

 

Everyone already knows this, so I won't elaborate.  Always mix up your game and do things different.  Keep people guessing.  When I watch Jennifear play, this is her strong point.  I never know what she has.  She fools me all the time.  When I decide to call she has a great hand, and when I fold a good hand she has bluffed.  This is because she really knows how to mix up her game, but its based on a very solid foundation. 

 

Good luck at the tables, and hopefully some of these tips have helped.

 

Gary

gjones

15 players showed up to play for bounties and cash.  Yours truly finally hit his first bounty and win in the Joker tourney after 8 tries!  Jenn played her famous style of poker, maybe a bit less crazy as usual in the invites, but solid play as usual.  She took control just before the final table and showed why she is a premier online player.  But, finally tonight was a good night for the director.  Looking very good at going out before the money again, he had a little help from Jennifear by Jenn knocking out MissThang084.  Then gjones pushed all in with KJ. JakeyLove thought about calling with an A off, but laid it down. A couple hands later gjones went in and JakeyLove called (can't recall the hands) but gjones held up and Jakey finished on the bubble.

 

Here's your top three:

Jennifear

Mellow_Yellow

gjones

 

It was a good battle as gjones and mellow tried to hang in with Jennifear's big chip lead.   Then on hand 172 things changed.  Jenn raises 3x blinds to 900.  Jones picks up 88 in the big blind and raises to 1500.  Jenn just calls here.  The flop is 876.  jones checks, jenn checks.  The turn is 7.  Jones hits the full house and smiles.  Lucky for him Jenn just caught trip 7's.  Jenn bets 1200, Jones moves all in.  Jenn calls and Jones shows her the bad news, doubles up and takes the lead.  Hand 180 was also bad for jenn.  Jenn makes a big raise with Aoff.  Mellow wakes up in the big blind with QQ and pushes all in.   She can't spike the A and she is crippled.  3 hands later she's out when Jones' KJ gets her K3.  Now it's down to gjones and mellow.  jones has a lead of 12.5k to 9.5k for mellow.  It was a good long battle and seemed to go back and forth.  Jones held the lead, lost it and got it back.  Hand 238 was the final blow.  Both guys have Aces in the whole, but Jones' were suited. Two hearts on the flop and Jones pushes all in.  Mellow calls hitting top pair with the A8.  But finally the poker gods were kind to the tourney director and he hits the heart on the turn to win the tourney.  

 

Thanks for letting the tourney director win tonight!! 

 

Thanks for playing all,

gjones